St. Bernard street name change proposal dies in council meeting

Most St. Bernard residents who showed up at Tuesday night's Parish Council meeting signed up to speak about a controversial street name change proposal.

As it turned out, they didn't need to. After about 20 minutes of heated discussion, Councilman Casey Hunnicutt said the name change decision was the state's to make - not the Council's.

The parish had been considering changing the name of Colonial Boulevard in Chalmette to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The name change proposal was submitted by the Rev. Kevin Gabriel, who is the parish's NAACP president. Gabriel said he circulated a petition in March to get a feel for what the residents thought.

“Five houses said no and 28 of them said yes,” Gabriel said at a July 28 Planning Commission hearing.

After that hearing, another resident circulated a petition in opposition. She spoke at Tuesday's meeting, but after Hunnicutt's comments, the item was removed from the agenda.

It was not immediately clear if Gabriel would try to pursue the idea at the state level.

Violent crime across the nation increased for a second consecutive year. The FBI’s annual report on national crime statistics show more than 17-thousand people were murdered in the U.S. last year. That’s an 8.6 percent increase from 2015.

Violent crime across the nation increased for a second consecutive year. The FBI’s annual report on national crime statistics show more than 17-thousand people were murdered in the U.S. last year. That’s an 8.6 percent increase from 2015.

A man was arrested for allegedly raping a girl six times since she was 11-years-old. Kenner Police Department arrested Junior Reyes, 24, on Sunday and charged him with six counts of the crime of second-degree rape.

A man was arrested for allegedly raping a girl six times since she was 11-years-old. Kenner Police Department arrested Junior Reyes, 24, on Sunday and charged him with six counts of the crime of second-degree rape.